We're in California for a few weeks continues...
Time for another technology upgrade.
We have always had one Apple laptop that we take on trips. But recently, I've become more wired: spending time on Second Life, instant messaging with my closest friends, etc. So sharing a computer wasn't really practical anymore.
Especially since we're going to the South by Southwest Film and Music Festival on Thursday for 10 days in Texas (shreeek), I wanted to be technologically independent. So, last week while we were still in London John ordered me my own laptop so it would be waiting here when we got back. I'm so excited! He set up the basics for me, installed the software I needed and now I'm configuring my various email accounts, instant messenger accounts, etc.
The purchase of this computer triggered an interesting, and inevitable, event: we canceled our credit card account. You know the one, the one that thought Germany is a U.S. State.
I was inspired by having dumped our nightmare U.K. bank recently for their constant freezing of our credit card and their imcomprehensible security procedures. Our new bank is so fabulous that when there was a charge on our card that seemed unusual, like a hotel in Geneva, they emailed us asking if it was ok. We responded that we were indeed in Geneva. No frozen credit card, no bizarre security questions, no problem. Once our banker even checked the blog to see what country we were in so she knew the credit card charges were ok.
After John bought the Apple laptop our U.S. credit card was frozen yet again. We were completely fed up, they had also frozen it on our recent trip to Los Angeles. One day I actually called them 4 times, went through their invasive and bizarre security procedure each time, and the card remained frozen and was unusable for our entire Los Angeles trip. So, we ended up using our new bank's credit card and, amazing, there were no problems.
So, our U.S. credit card being frozen yet again when John bought the laptop was the final straw. No, actually, the final straw was when he called to get it unfrozen and failed one of their security questions. I'm sure there are many people who can't remember what county they lived in in 1985 and it gives the credit card company security people a little cheap thrill and a chuckle. So, I called, passed the security questions, got the card unfrozen and told them that I was fed up and was one phone call away from cancelling the account.
The next day we got a notification our credit card was once again declined. Yes, it was frozen again. Ok, I called (yes, all these calls were from London to the U.S.) and they told me that they froze our card again because the phone number I called from the day before was not our home telephone number. I'm not kidding. But I had correctly answered all their freaky security questions about where I lived in 1977! WTF.
We decided this had to stop. The next day I went online and changed all of our monthly recurring charges (DSL, Netflix, etc.) to our new bank's card. When we got back to California I called the credit card company and cancelled our account (actually 2 accounts). They were very upset and did everything they could to get me not to cancel. After keeping me on hold for 20 minutes, they said we had been on a high security level that they had our security level lowered so there wouldn't be as many problems in the future. I told her it was too late for that and someone should have offered that solution to me long ago. She started to tell me all the benefits of why I should keep the account and I had to say, "Close the account and close it now, this discussion is over."
Putting those credit cards through the shredder gave me a little cheap thrill and a chuckle.
